AI tools for neighbourhood shops in India (kirana stores)

What you need

• A smartphone with the WhatsApp Business app (it is free to download)
• Your real shop facts: opening hours, delivery area, ways to pay
• A week of notes on the questions customers ask
• Any AI chat assistant
• A free account on a presentation tool and a photo tool

Facts about WhatsApp Business, UPI brand rules, the GST portal, free business listings and the free plans were read on official pages on 23 Oct 2026. Free plans change: open each tool's own pricing page before you rely on it. This guide is not legal, tax or financial advice.

1. Write down what customers ask you every day

   Goal: one short list of answers that you give again and again. For one week, note the questions you hear at the counter and on WhatsApp: opening hours, delivery, what is in stock, how to pay, whether you give credit. Then ask a chat assistant to group them and draft the answers from your facts only. Check before you use it: every hour, area and payment way in the answers must be true today.

   Example

   Example shop: Anita Kirana Store wrote: Do you deliver? Are you open on Sunday? Do you take UPI? Do you have fresh milk in the morning? The assistant grouped them as Delivery, Timings, Payment and Stock, and left Stock as [MISSING?] because Anita gave no milk time.

   The prompt and the tool for this step

2. Set up the WhatsApp Business app for your shop

   Goal: a shop profile and ready replies, so a customer who writes at night gets an answer. The WhatsApp Business app is free to download. Add your shop name, a short description, address and opening hours. Turn on a greeting message and an away message, and say when you will reply. Save quick replies with shortcuts such as /hours and /delivery. Check before you use it: read every message once, and send a test from another phone.

   Weak

   Write a nice message for my shop.

   Better

   Write an away message for Anita Kirana Store (example shop). We are closed after 9 pm and reply before 8 am. Keep it to two short sentences and ask people to write what they need.

   The prompt and the tool for this step

3. Add your best sellers to a catalogue with clear photos

   Goal: a catalogue where each item has a name, a price, a short description and a good photo. Start with a few best sellers, not the whole shop. Take photos in daylight on a clean surface. A photo tool can clean the light and the background, but check the free plan first: the free Basic plan puts a watermark on exports. Check before you use it: the price, size and brand on the photo and in the text must match the real packet. You set the prices, never the tool.

   Example

   Item: Toor dal, 1 kg packet, [price]. Description: Clean, sorted toor dal in a sealed packet. Photo: taken near the shop door at noon, background cleaned, label still readable.

   The prompt and the tool for this step

4. Make a shelf sign or a festival offer poster

   Goal: one clear sign or poster for something you really have. Write the offer, the items and a true end date, then let a presentation tool lay it out as a poster. Print it at a local print shop or share it on WhatsApp. Check before you use it: every item, price and date, and make sure you can honour the offer for every customer who asks.

   Example

   Poster text: Festival week at Anita Kirana Store (example shop). Sweets, dry fruits and puja items. Offer ends on Sunday evening. Free home delivery within our area. Call or WhatsApp [number].

   The prompt and the tool for this step

5. Make it easy to pay and be found, and check your papers

   Goal: a payment sign you can trust, a business listing customers can find, and a list of questions for the right people. For payments, use the UPI QR from your own bank or UPI app. Do not let an AI tool make or change a QR code, and do not copy UPI logos from the web: NPCI says its BHIM UPI brand marks may not be reproduced without written permission. Scan your printed QR with another phone and check that your shop name shows. Google Business Profile lets a shop add a free business listing on the map: add your address, opening hours and photos (see the official help page below). On GST, the official GST tutorial says a normal taxpayer's registration is effective from the date the person becomes liable, if the application is filed within 30 days of that date. Whether you are liable is a question for an accountant, and the same goes for any food licence or registration. Write your questions and take them to an accountant or the official office.

   Example

   Questions Anita wrote for her accountant: Do I need GST registration for my shop and my sales? Which records should I keep? Questions for the food office: Which registration or licence applies to the items I sell?

   The prompt and the tool for this step

Copy it into any AI chat assistant and fill in the brackets.

You help me use free AI tools for my neighbourhood shop in India.

My shop: [type of shop, area and city]
What customers ask me most: [paste your list]
My facts: [opening hours, delivery area, ways to pay]
My phone and tools: [WhatsApp Business installed? which free tools?]

Before you write anything, ask me up to 5 questions, one at a time. Then do four things:
1. Turn my customer questions into a short FAQ, using only my facts. Mark anything missing as [MISSING?].
2. Write my WhatsApp Business greeting, away message and four quick replies, each with a shortcut.
3. Write the text for one shelf sign or poster about one real offer with a true end date.
4. Write a list of questions I should take to my bank and to my accountant. Give no tax or legal advice.

Do not invent prices, offers or rules. Start with your first question.

Copy the instruction

A shop profile with ready replies, a catalogue of your best sellers, one honest poster, and a written list of questions for your bank and accountant, with each free plan checked on its own pricing page.

• WhatsApp Business app: free app, business profile, catalogue, greeting and away messages, quick replies. WhatsApp Business: official guide
• UPI brand marks: NPCI says its BHIM UPI marks may not be reproduced without written permission. NPCI: BHIM UPI guidelines (PDF)
• GST registration for a normal taxpayer: check the effective date rule on the official tutorial and ask your accountant. GST portal: apply for registration
• Google Business Profile: a free business listing on the map and in search. Google Business Profile: official help
• Free plans change: open the pricing or help page before you rely on one. Gamma: how credits work
• Fotor: free Basic plan, exports may carry a watermark. Fotor: pricing

• Letting a tool set prices or write an offer you cannot keep.
• Printing a QR code or a UPI logo that did not come from your bank or UPI app.
• Pasting customer names, phone numbers or credit balances into an AI chat.
• Trusting a free plan's limits from memory instead of its pricing page.
• Treating this guide as tax, legal or financial advice: ask an accountant or the official office.